Poor weather leading up to the big day made for a rather damp pitch and was probably why we had a number of cancellations and late arrivals. But as the church clock struck 12 we suddenly had ten pairs ready to contest the 2007 end of season double wicket competition. The teams were drawn out of a hat for 5 first round matches.
Andrew Walker and daughter Elspeth were first up against Woody and the American Deitrich with team Walker proving too strong and winning 28 to 13. Climps and mate Dave drew the defending champions in what was certain to be a hard fought first round encounter. Climps and Dave batting first managed a reasonable 20 which proved too much for the defenders who lost wickets early and then dug themselves even deeper by trying to slog their way out of trouble. Adam and Andy Ford were soundly beaten and finished on -12, in fact they hardly spent any time in positive territory at all.
Father & son team Alvar & Robin were unlucky to draw Ralf & Richard in their game. It proved to be a one-sided match with Ralf & Richard winning 23 to -3. Alvar found himself out to the catch of the day with Ross diving forward to collect a well-timed pull shot just inches off the ground. Just as the first round finished John Fitzgerald and son Tom turned up – it was a shame they hadn’t arrived a little sooner to play against Alvar & Robin and now found themselves up against the highest losers from the first round, Olly & Robin.
In what turned out to be the most amusing game of the tournament Olly & Robin batted first, had some trouble getting runs off Tom with Olly getting out on his first ball. John hadn’t played cricket for over 20 years and when he also had Olly out caught and bowled on his first ball the game was on. Inexplicitly they only managed to post -2 and somehow John & Tom survived enough balls to score 1 and win the game.
In the second round the Walkers were up against the champion slayers Climps and Dave T who posted a commanding 30 runs. Despite some nice batting from both Walkers, father Andy found himself in two minds not knowing how hard to attack and in the end they only managed 7 runs.
Andy Carter & Dave G then played a very tight match against Chris & Glas’ with both sides scoring runs, then losing wickets – the game ebbed and flowed, and the upper hand changed with each over, but it was Chris & Glas’ who held their nerve to win 19 to 14.
Ralf & Richard had a much easier, and again one-sided, match against the brave John & Tom Fitzgerald, with Tom again providing a great deal of entertainment with his good cricket and enthusiastic captaining, ordering players all around the field. Ralf & Richard winning 27 to -8.
Climps & Dave T had the highest score and went straight through to the final leaving Ralf & Richard to play Chris & Glas’. Ralf was batting OK and Richard was bowling well – but they had yet to face any stiff competition – they won the toss and elected to bat.
Ralf really struggled to get any bat on Chris’s bowling and together with Richard only managed 8 runs which did not look enough. Glas’ & Chris were in control with one over to go until Chris mis-hit the first ball high up towards mid on and Ralf, running in from the boundary at full speed took the catch. The wheels then fell off the Glas’ & Chris batting machine, losing further wickets and the game with a score of -11.
In the final Ralf & Richard won the toss and elected to stick to a winning formula and bat first. Although Ralf managed two sweetly timed sixes, a couple of wickets were also lost and only 11 runs were made. It didn’t look like enough, but it was getting dark and Richard was bowling well taking a wicket on the last ball of the first over to leave Climps and Dave T starting again on nought. 7 runs were scored off Ralf’s over leaving 5 runs needed for victory. Richard bowled well, but Dave struck a boundary on the third ball to level the scores, and then a single on the fifth to go one ahead. With all the fieldsman up Richard bowled the last ball outside the off stump, Climps played the most proper forward defensive of the season and with that became Double Wicket Champion for the end of the 2007 along with David Timms.
From our cricket correspondent